Friday Night Naruto
by NarutoHatake-Uchiha
Summary: In a small football obsessed town in Texas one apathetic blonde is about to be thrust into the one place he never wanted to be; the spotlight


**A/N PLEASE READ: What's up guys, another new story for your viewing pleasure and another high school story. I've had a million ideas flying around my head recently, some really badass ones, but in the end this is the one that gets written. Apologies to people who liked my last story but I highly doubt that it will be updated anytime soon because to be honest reading over it again I think it's a steaming pile of dog crap, so sorry about that. Now this new story will take place in a fictional town in Texas, so I'm going to need you to use your suspension of disbelief for the names of all the people in the town. The story was inspired by the TV show Friday Night Lights but the plot won't be the same and you would not have needed to watch the show to read this story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any brands or trademarks used in this story**

**Chapter 1**

"Hello fox fans you're listening to KDR radio 96.5. You can feel the excitement and tension in the air folks, we have been counting down the days and it's finally here, game day. Can coach Hatake and his boys bring home the state championship for the town of Karden? Well the journey starts tonight. We've got callers on the line." Kakashi Hatake turned off his radio as he pulled into the school grounds and parked his car. The radio presenter hadn't been wrong when he said you could feel the tension in the air, in fact it was so present on the faces of the students, teachers and people around the town that the feeling itself was palpable. But there was one thing the presenter missed, sure there was excitement in the air but more than that was the overwhelming expectation of everyone in Karden. This town built these boys up as idols only to rip them down once they begin to stumble. The only thought running through Kakashi's mind; he hopes this team won't stumble.

As Kakashi Hatake was entering the school there's a person on the other side of town just leaving his house. Naruto Uzumaki a student at Karden high school was about to lock up his house and head on his way to school just like every other day. Naruto himself was an athletic looking boy at 6'0 feet tall with spikey blonde hair and a tanned complexation. The only thing marring his otherwise handsome face was three scars on each cheek somewhat resembling whiskers. He was wearing an opened check shirt with a white wife beater underneath, black jeans and black Adidas runners with his school bag on his back. Naruto lived alone in a bungalow on the outskirts of the town in the poorer district. He never knew his parents having lived in an orphanage until his uncle took him in. His uncle travels a lot so Naruto rarely if ever sees him but he sends some money every now and then, and combine that with Naruto's job at a fast food place and he makes enough to get by. As he begins his long walk to school he is interrupted by the honking of a car horn and turns to see his only friend Gaara leaning out of a car window being driven by his older sister Temari.

"Come on Naruto get in, you'll be an hour late walking from here." his friend shouts at him.

Naruto gets in the car and thanks both of them for the lift.

"You ready for the big game today Naruto." Temari shouts over her shoulder. Before he has the chance to respond Gaara cuts in "You know he's not really playing Temari, lord Uchiha would never let the 2nd string take a snap no matter how much points ahead the team is, isn't that right Naruto."

Naruto in response just shrugs his shoulders "I guess so, but that's just fine with me anyway, I don't want the kind of attention that comes with being QB number 1. The only reason I play at all is because my Uncle said my dad used to enjoy it."

Temari rolls her eyes at his attitude, typical Naruto, always so laid back, always so apathetic towards everything if she didn't know from personal experience and the fact that she could faintly hear him breathing she would think that he's not actually alive but merely a walking corpse.

"Honestly Naruto I don't know why you don't try harder from what I've heard from Shikamaru your pretty good and I know for a fact that you have great stamina." She said the last part with a hint of a flirtatious tone and a wink back at the boy in question.

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders again, opting not to respond while looking straight a Gaara who was now glaring at Naruto with murderous intent.

Before any fight could break out, the car stopped and Temari pulled the keys out of the ignition announcing their arrival at the school. As the three teens made their way into school Temari said her goodbyes as she went to her class while the two boys continued on their way towards theirs.

Before Gaara could say something it was Naruto's turn to interrupt him "Do you really want to know the answer to the question you're about to ask?" he questioned while glancing at his friend beside him. In response Gaara gave him a hard look before sighing, shaking his head and entering the classroom with Naruto following behind him.

As they entered all eyes turned to them with Gaara glaring back at his fellow classmates while Naruto adopted his usual gaze of indifference. That's why Naruto and Gaara got on so well and why they originally became friends, they're both outcasts in the school, and in the community as a whole and because of this they just gravitated towards each other.

After being told to sit down by the teacher Naruto put his head down on the table and waited to hear the bell, after all one of the perks of being on the football team was you got out of class early on game days. In fact the school probably stayed open longer than any of the shops in town, Karden became an absolute ghost town on game day. Naruto could never understand why these people put such importance into something he felt was completely insignificant. This 'community' had so many problems from the extreme socio-economic divide, to the racism, to the fact that teenagers throwing around a ball was the most important thing in their lives. The fact that Sasuke Uchiha could literally get away with murder if he wanted to, made Naruto question the sanity of the people in this backwater town.

On his way to his next class Naruto had the misfortune of running into his 'buddies' from the football team with their girlfriends hanging from their arms led by the infamous Sasuke Uchiha and his girlfriend Sakura Haruno.

"You ready for the game loser." Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke's opening barb, for some reason unknown to even Naruto himself the Uchiha felt threatened by the blonde. He actually got on okay with most members of the team, sure he was a bit of an outcast but they generally left Naruto alone, which is exactly how Naruto liked people to behave towards him.

"I'll have no need to be as long as you take care of business Sasuke." Naruto's response was delivered in his usual mono-syllabic tone that as per usual got under Sasuke's skin but before anything interesting could happen Sakura stepped in.

"Come on Sasuke don't waste time on some 2nd string loser like him we need to get to class." Ah, little miss perfect Sakura captain of the cheerleading squad among many other 'important' duties, such as being a PA for her boyfriend. Naruto knew that Sakura was the brains behind the operation, always trying to maintain their perfect public image, but Naruto could see their relationship was one born out of sure convenience and maybe expectation than any sort of romantic feelings. To put it in layman's terms their relationship looked good on the CV, nothing more nothing less. The other players like Shikamaru and Choji looked almost sympathetic as they followed their 'leader', in fact the only one giving him any harsh looks was one Ino Yamanaka.

Ino who was currently going out with star wide receiver Kiba Inuzuka was well known around the school mainly for her stunning good looks. In fact just from a pure physical stand point she was probably the best looking girl in the school. Why she was giving Naruto the old stinky eye when she passed possibly had to do with the fact that she was obsessed with Sasuke, and would drop Kiba like a bad cold if she ever saw the opportunity to take Sasuke from her supposed best friend. Unfortunately for Ino she did have the reputation as a bit of a social climber among other things. One could say that Ino was somewhat like a rollie in a collage dorm; everyone got a blow.

Naruto honestly didn't know how they could possibly enjoy their hard fought popularity, with all the backstabbing and false friendships, coupled with the fact that you were constantly looking over your shoulder, it wasn't something that Naruto craved.

The rest of the day passed quickly enough and before he knew it Naruto was in the dressing room listening to coach Kakashi's final words of wisdom.

"There's been a lot of talk about expectation recently, among the people of the town expecting you to win and to be honest I expect you to win tonight as well, but more than that I expect you not to take your opponents lightly and I expect you to go above and beyond for each other tonight. Most importantly I expect you to give it your all in the pursuit of excellence."

"Yes sir!" was the combined response from the team

"It is not going to plan here for Coach Hatake in the first game of the season, Greenville are leading Karden by 12 points and were mid way through the 4th quarter. Besides some individual brilliance by quarterback Sasuke Uchiha, the foxes just have not been able to get anything going on offense." The announcer seemed just as worried as the crowd did. A sense of unease had spread over the once rambunctious crowd. Kakashi was pacing up and down the side-lines worry clear on his face.

"Let's see if the Foxes can get anything going as Sasuke brings them out of the huddle…. It's a QB draw and Sasuke is running away from the pressure as he tries to make a break down the side-lines… but oh, what a hit, you could feel that one up here, let's hope the boy is alright."

You could see straight away Sasuke wasn't alright, his leg was horribly bent out of place and he was screaming out in pain. The shocked silence of the crowd made his cries of agony echo throughout the stadium only being interrupted by the paramedics giving orders and the sound of the ambulance in the background. After what seemed like an eternity Sasuke was carted away on a stretcher having passed out from the pain with his weeping mother and stoic father following behind, and a very shocked looking Sakura following behind them.

After everyone calmed down and realised there was a game still needing to be finished, Kakashi turned to find Naruto who was still in the same position he had been since the start sitting on the bench almost looking half asleep.

"Naruto your up, get your helmet and a ball and warm up." The way Naruto looked at him Kakashi honestly thought he was going to tell him to go fuck himself but the boy just sighed and did what he was told.

Naruto was actually considering telling Kakashi to go fuck himself but thought better of it. This is exactly what he didn't want now he was the centre of attention, all eyes on him.

"Looks like number 2 Naruto Uzumaki is coming into the game. Not much is known about this kid and I don't think he's ever taken a snap in his time playing for the Foxes but now all eyes are on him, let's see what the kids got."

Naruto and his teammates made their way onto the pitch and into the huddle "All right I'm going to be honest with all of you, I don't have a clue what the play is so here is what we're going to do: Kiba run a go route and Shikamaru run a short post route, on one okay."

Naruto's teammates were looking at him with a mixture of anger and disbelief as he turned around to leave the huddle, but had no option but to follow him.

"Alright Fox fans if we're going turn this one around we got to hope the offense can get a quick score…. Naruto drops back and fires the ball complete to Shikamaru who gets enough for the first down on the Foxes 40 yard line as the clock ticks down here."

As Naruto made his way over to the side line he could see the look of surprise and anger on Kakashi's face "That wasn't the play I called Naruto."

Naruto just shrugged in response as Kakashi gave an exasperated sigh before giving him the next play.

"Uzumaki drops back, he's under pressure, gets away from one… scrambles out of the pocket and heaves one deep… man this boy can throw and he's got no. 80 wide open… touchdown foxes! And there seems to be some life left in the old dog yet."

After a quick celebration the boys came back to the side lines hoping that the defence can make a quick stop.

Kakashi pulled Naruto aside "What the hell do you think you're doing boy, that wasn't what I called."

Once again Naruto shrugged in response which only served to infuriate Kakashi more "It worked didn't it."

The defence was able to make the stop and Naruto and the offence trotted back on the field with 1 minute to go and the ball on their own 30 yard line.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen the foxes still need a touchdown to win as the offense comes out in the shotgun formation… the ball is snapped back and immediately Naruto finds himself under pressure as he avoids the rush and scrambles out of the pocket… boom! He runs over the line backer jukes the safety and he's got a block downfield… he might go all the way… touchdown Karden! I don't believe it in all my years of commentating I have never seen something like that… good gracious!"

As Naruto waited in the endzone for his teammates who were going absolutely crazy, only one thought was going through his mind

'Shit'

**A/N: This is probably up for adoption contact me if interested via a pm or review **


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